Saturday, February 28, 2009

Thank you so, so much. Whistle so I can tell where you are dear reader... There you are! Thank you for listening to our informal chatty awardsy podcast all season and especially for commenting so we know we're not talking into the great web void. I couldn't have done this without my beautiful co-stars Joe, Nick and Katey who always believed in me! I also must thank my accoun ---[drowned out by orchestra]

Enough hokey awards show humor. If you aren't already completely Oscared out (you're totally forgiven if you are), join the four musketeers for one last podcast pow-wow about Oscar night. The best option is the iTunes version i.e. the enhanced podcast but you can listen to the simplified mp3 if you don't have an enhanced player.

Somewhere round about the middle of the podcast (60 minutes this time. We had much gushing to do) Nick dropped an intriguing question for listeners/readers. What do you think is the Best Consecutive Run for Acting Oscar winners ever? Nick thinks it might actually be the last four years of Best Actor, great performances all...

Philip Seymour Hoffman, Capote

Forrest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland

Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood

Sean Penn, Milk

Well done, AMPAS. I counter with a five year spread of Best Actresses in the 1960s that I think is unbelievably satisfying. Which consecutive string of winners thrills you most? We want to hear it in the comments.*

I actually think there have been many more "mistakes" or wrongly awarded Oscars for the Male categories. Probably because they spend half of the Oscars on apologies to the snubbed (cough - Pacino - cough)I kinda liked Best Actress 1990-931990 - Kathy Bates in Misery1991 - Jodie Foster in Silence of the Lambs1992 - Emma Thompson in Howards End1993 - <3 Holly Hunter in The Piano

Hunter's performance I honestly believe is the greatest Female Lead ever. or at least that I've seen. After seeing that performance I figure there isn't much more to experience in life

Kent. I'd love to do some sort of best actress history project but I still have a lot to say believe it or not (a lot!). i really need to find a way to cut back on modern cinema so i can clear up some of my empty spots in classic cinema. My worst decade is probably the 40s. Sometimes I feel like I've seen nothing.

Not where most people look, but the award for Best Visual Effects underwent a renaissance in 1977 with "Star Wars" and saw a run of at least six years (arguably ten) where the winners (mostly Industrial Light and Magic) pretty much rewrote what was possible and, eventually, what was routinely expected for technical wizardry in movies.

1977 Star Wars 1978 Superman: The Movie1979 Alien 1980 The Empire Strikes Back 1981 Raiders of the Lost Ark 1982 E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

To keep myself sane, I’d like to pay tribute to four amazing podcasters;

You guys all rock so hard for doing this; props to NATHANIEL for continuing to put these gems together while contributing his own great insights and fun commentary; personal highlights for me this round included Hugh Jackman “putting ‘them’ in their place and his actressexual panic upon having his Penelope suddenly stolen—despite that “three years ago he just hated her”. And of course, the last minute nod to Hawkin’s truly unforgettable Globe win/speech—thanks in part to la Steep and Thompson.

As for the rest of the brilliant gang, I’m oh so going to miss Joe (“MIA was at your party!?”) and Katie (would have killed to see her rendition of ‘Benjamin Button’)’s wicked quips and enriching conversations. Just for the record, Joe, I hear you on those missing clips- would it be to much for the producers to gives us both-- clips and the five previous winners introducing I mean?

And NICK… oh and Nick… man just slays me every time. Love his illuminating shout-outs to both the uber famous (“How dare you beat my film”) and lesser known tech folks too… not to mentioned his killer wry humor— highlights including the dangers of being caviler toward Julie Christie… Penelope Cruz’s plan’s for an Oscar-winning documentary short starring Cate Blanchett… and of course, coining the genius phrase Team Abacus. heeeee. And while I have one hell of a bone to pick with him over giving Diane Lane’s searing work in UNFAITHFUL only 2 stars (I actually rented ‘Walk on the Moon’ just to be certain), his Best Actress project continues to be an astounding treat.

My only teeny, tiny quibble regarding the podcast was, ah hem, the lack of talk regarding Mr. Heath Ledger and his historic victory. I mean, besides the actual bittersweet win, there was lots to discuss- like how more than half of that trophy is for his performance as “Ennis Del Mar” or how/why the producers picked Philip Glass’s score from 'The Hours' (track: “Escape!”) to immediately follow Ledger’s win- albeit more so under the documentary nominees.

But I ain’t complaining, excellent podcast and a truly wonderful capsule of the 2008 film award season.

oh, almost forgot- these 4 are a hellva Best Actress succession:90- Bates!!!91- Foster!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!92- Thompson!!!!!!! 93- Hunter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Loved the podcast (as usual) but I have one minor gripe with the group: you can not honestly STILL be complaining the camera cutting away from Amanda and Dominic and back to "Zac and whatever her name is" during the "Musicals are Back!" number. Seriously? If you watch it again, there's one, possibly two, close ups of Zac & Vanessa to the one of Amanda & Dominic. And, in all honesty, do you really believe that that performance was about anything but BEYONCE?

This brings me to a point: Why is there such a bias against Zac (I understand the Vanessa Hudgens bias because, frankly, she sucks) and the High School Musical films. Newsflash: HSM3 was superior to Mamma Mia! in nearly every way possible (except for the music- ABBA rules all- and the script, which was equally bad). The musical sequences were more cinematic, the choreography was actually existent, the acting from a couple of performers were quite good and, in all honesty, I'd rather watch Ashley Tisdale's manipulative, sexy, spotlight-demanding diva Sharpay rather than Dame Julie Walters cackling away like Margaret Hamilton any day of the week. So, please, if you're going to rip apart HSM and act like Mamma Mia! is some superior piece of art, see it first.

Oh, and the best runs:Best Supporting Actress (39-41):Hattie McDaniel, Gone With the WindJane Darwell, The Grapes of WrathMary Astor, The Great Lie

Sigh. Once again I have to abdicate props; Ryan, you're a sweetheart for saying so, but that MIA line was Nick's. As a general rule of thumb, all the really funny lines are Nick's. All the times you can't understand what the guy is saying are me. But thanks for the kind words nonetheless.

That Cooper/Seyfried/Efron/Whatsherface thing was mine, though. I should mention that, indeed, I haven't seen HSM3, but I wouldn't be surprised of it was better than Mamma Mia. It's kind of a low bar to clear. I was only speaking of my general preference for Amanda Seyfried and Dominic Cooper in general (on celluloid, in photos, in my living room); I always want to see more of them. I wasn't hating on Efron and Efron's Girlfriend per se. The kid looks great with his shirt off, who am I to complain?